With the sign off by Wānaka Golf Club to permit the removal and replacement of its boundary trees, the last leg of Wānaka’s Schools to Pool (S2P) shared pathway is heading towards completion.

Last month, club members agreed to a deal with Three Park’s Properties Ltd (TPPL) to remove about 650 wilding tree species along its 17th and 18th hole boundaries with Three Parks. 

The deal includes the replacement of the trees (two for one) and considerable landscaping.

With the large trees gone, TPPL will be able to start work on both the S2P pathway and the long-awaited connector road from the town end of Ballantyne Road directly into Three Parks, TPPL managing director Allan Dippie told the Wānaka App.

The last leg of S2P is only about 600 metres long, he said, and will connect the Ballantyne Road traffic lights crossing point (near the Golf Club entrance) directly to Take Kārara primary school, on Grace Wright Drive, and on to the Wānaka Recreation Centre and pool.

Wānaka Upper Clutha Community Board chair Simon Telfer said the board was “as eager as everyone” to have the last leg of the S2P pathway formalised. 

S2P began as a public initiative in 2018 with the discussions for a safe pathway for students to travel 4.5kms across town. Work began on the first leg of the three metre-wide asphalt path in 2023, starting at the Kelly’s Flat Reserve bordered by the Holy Family Catholic School and Wānaka Primary School. 

A concept design of the irregular ‘roundabout’ proposed for Ballantyne/Golf Course intersection. PHOTO: QLDC

This last leg of the S2P pathway will run alongside the new connector road, an extension of Ferguson Drive, which will also provide lighting for the pathway.

The long-awaited road connecting to Ballantyne Road will provide crucial access to Three Parks shopping centre, taking pressure off the already busy Sir Tim Wallis Drive, Allan said.

“It will be the most direct route from town to Three Parks as the crow flies,” he said.

A substantial portion of Ferguson Drive, which begins at the Three Parks New World, has already been completed but not yet opened to the public.

“There’s about 500 metres left to do,” Allan said, to bring Ferguson Drive out to the intersection with Ballantyne and Golf Course roads.

The intersection’s roundabout will be upgraded at the same time, he said.

Allan said funding for an irregular, peanut shaped ‘roundabout’ has already been identified in the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s budget for 2026-27 and council staff “are pushing the go button on that intersection”.

Upgrading the intersection will be “hugely disruptive” but when it’s finished in 2027 “it will be brilliant”, he said.

In addition to the S2P pathway, Allan said he’d also be creating another public path bordering the golf course through to the Three Parks shopping centre.